Century clock

Tianjin Century clock is a large-scale urban sculpture established by Tianjin Municipal People's Government in 1999 to welcome the 21st century. It is located at the head of Jiefang Bridge in Hebei District.

The century clock is made of all metal materials, with bronze reliefs of twelve constellations inlaid between the outer ring and the inner ring.

The clock of the whole century is elegant and meaningful in its solemnity. The clock, long pole, gear and base form a perfect space-time shape, which indicates that Tianjin, an old industrial city, has made another big step forward in the process of history.

Century clock

Century clock is a large-scale landmark city sculpture building built in Tianjin station square to welcome the new century. At 0:00 on January 1, 2000, the pleasant bell rang in front of Jiefang Bridge in Tianjin station square, ringing the bell to welcome the new century. From that moment on, century clock has become one of the most concerned landmark buildings in Tianjin.

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geographical position

Tianjin Century clock is located on the Bank of Haihe River, Hebei District, Tianjin city. The specific address is century clock square, Haihe East Road, Hebei District, west side of Tianjin station, and 5000 square meters of green space around jiefangqiao island. In order to meet the new century, Tianjin has built a large-scale landmark city sculpture building in front of Tianjin station square.

Traffic information

Take bus 185, 35, 621, 635, 639, 676 to Liuwei road and Liujing Road station

structure

The century clock is made of all metal. The century clock is 40 meters high, 14.6 meters in diameter, with a base area of 74.4 square meters and a weight of more than 170 tons. It has three parts: minute plate, swing frame and base. The whole body is made of metal and has a brilliant streamer. The pendulum goes up and down, the sun and the moon shine. The circle of clock plate, the arch of stars, the blend of Chinese and western, the harmony of heaven and man. The integration of classical and modern means the continuity of time and space.

Around the clock dial, 12 constellation reliefs are used, and the pictures are created according to the original story. Aries is placed at the top 12 o'clock, because sheep represents good luck in China; Libra is placed at the bottom 6 o'clock, because scales represent fairness. All these reflect the idea of integrating foreign culture with local culture in arrangement.

appearance

The quartz clock plate covers an area of 156 square meters. On the inner ring with a diameter of about 8 meters, the plate core and pointer are made of flower block. Between the outer ring with a diameter of about 14 meters and the inner ring, 12 bronze reliefs with a diameter of 2.6 meters are inlaid, and the pattern is 12 constellations. The side of the dial is a huge pendulum, with "sun" at the top and "Moon" at the bottom. The pendulum is S-shaped, drawn from the shape of Taiji dividing line, implying the alternation of yin and Yang. The heavy forged copper base is full of big and small gears, chains and huge screws. The rivets and the ancient Jiefang Bridge set off each other. It is simple and elegant, telling people that China's modern industry began here.

This century clock is the largest art stereoscopic clock in diameter and weight available. When you look around, time and space, classical and modern, power and beauty, human and nature are fully integrated here, enlightening people's endless reverie and imagination.

The century clock is 40 meters high and the metal part weighs 180 tons. Each side of the clock has a diameter of 14 meters and an area of 154 square meters. There are 12 cast copper reliefs with a diameter of 2.6 meters and a weight of about 1 ton. The disc core and clock pointer are made of flower block, which is simple and elegant. The heavy forged copper base is full of big and small gears, chains and huge steel screws and rivets, which set off against the ancient Jiefang Bridge and tell people that China's modern industry began here.

The dial shape of the clock is European style. The Roman numerals and the central frame of the dial are made of stainless steel. Skeleton inlaid advanced acrylic transparent plate cover, plate thickness 8 mm. The Roman numeral part is inlaid. The outer diameter of Roman numeral is 8 meters, the inner diameter is 5 meters, and the outer diameter of central dial is 5 meters. The dial is inlaid with the words "Tianjin" and "2000". The dial with a diameter of 5 meters is luminous at night. The hour and minute needles are made of stainless steel laser cutting. The total length of minute needles is about 4 meters. The total weight of hour and minute needles is 180 kg. More than 30 gear parts are all made of steel and forged with brass outside. Gears represent the flow of time and the turn of the century. The industrialization era of the 20th century is over and the high-tech era of the 21st century is running.

There is a huge steel long pole shape on the side of the clock plate, with a total height of 34 meters and a total weight of about 10 tons. It has the sun on the top and the moon on the bottom. The long rod is "s" shaped, drawn from the shape of Taiji split line. It means the alternation of yin and Yang. The light of the sun and the halo of the moon are rotating at a constant speed of 3 revolutions per minute. The speed is adjustable, which means that Tianjin is the gateway of China. It condenses a small universe. With the operation of the clock, it gives people dynamic and powerful vitality, and improves the solidification sculpture to dynamic sculpture. The exterior of the sun and the moon are all made of stainless steel. The face of the sun is pasted with pure gold foil, the surface of the moon is pasted with pure silver foil, and the satellite next to the moon is also pasted with pure gold foil. The column is made of red copper, 18 meters long and 6 meters wide, weighing 40 tons. The platform used to support the clock and the machine room is also made of steel.

In order to set off the century clock in a more dignified way, eight star sky revolving lights (emitting red, yellow, green and blue colors respectively), three circle spotlights (white lights) and 16 crystal lights (each with 72 bulbs) were erected around the clock.

In order to satisfy the authenticity and noiseless of the sound effect of the clock, four groups of high and low-frequency outdoor speakers are set at the terminal of the clock platform. The total power is more than 2kW, which makes the volume fully adjustable and ensures the sound quality. When the big clock first tells the time every day, it rings the music of "Dongfanghong". After that, it uses the world's special bell.

Luminous at night is another feature of century clock. In the design, the internal lighting is used to make the dial part visible at night, and the external lighting makes the whole bright. And the main controller provides the automatic switch signal, according to the length of night in different seasons automatically turn on and off lights. The light-emitting system also provides power switch signals to the two rotating wheels on the swing rod at the same time, so that the outer circle of the "sun" on the swing rod glows at night, and the "Moon" at the lower end of the swing rod also glows in the same way.

working principle

The mechanical executive part of century clock is master clock, which is composed of mechanical movement, master controller, GPS clock controller, hour and minute hands. The design life of the movement is 50 years. The main shaft is made of special steel with a diameter of 50 mm. The self weight of the movement is 98 kg, and it can bear more than 180 kg of hour and minute hands running all the year round. The main controller is the heart controller of century clock, which can realize the running time, night light, automatic time reporting and timing rotation of the rotating wheel. It is designed in the main console, and can monitor the running time of the clock and the running of the rotating wheel at the same time GPS clock controller is the main timing and proofreading mechanism of the clock, so that there is no error in the long-term travel time of the clock. A GPS digital display clock is installed in the control room, which can display the year, month, day, hour, minute and second. At the same time, it also provides the time source for the mechanical clock standard. Behind the double-sided clock, there is a 30 square meter general control room. The power source and all operating equipment of the clock are placed in it. The control room is divided into power supply room, clock control room, inner light-emitting room 1 and inner light-emitting room 2.

The clock of the whole century is elegant and meaningful in its solemnity. The clock, long pole, gear and base form a perfect space-time shape, which indicates that Tianjin, an old industrial city, has made another big step forward in the process of history.

Panorama

Go to Baidu map to see the panorama

Address: near Sanjing Road, Hebei District, Tianjin

Longitude: 117.20550507307

Latitude: 39.133638908736

Tour time: 30 minutes

Traffic information: take a bus to Tianjin station.

Ticket information: Free

Opening hours: all day

Chinese PinYin : Shi Ji Zhong